Skiing can be grouped into two general categories. The older of the two disciplines originated in Scandinavia and uses free-heel bindings that attach at the toes of the skier's boots but not at the heels. Types of Nordic skiing include cross-country, ski jumping and Telemark. Alpine skiing (more often called "downhill skiing"), originated in the European Alps, and is characterized by fixed-heel bindings that attach at both the toe and the heel of the skier's boot.
Other accounts of early Nordic skiing are found with two modern cross-country endurance races in Norway and Sweden. These ski races were inspired by famous historic accounts of early medieval skiing in their respective countries. The oldest account involves the famous story from 1206 A.D. of the Birkebeiners during a civil war in medieval Norway. Considered the underdog, the Birkebeiners were at war against a rival faction known as the baglers. Following the death of the Birkebeiner chief, the baglers feared a rival in his young son Håkon Håkonsson. To protect him, two of the most skillful Birkebeiner skiers, with toddler in tow, skied through treacherous conditions over the mountains from around Lillehammer to safety in Østerdalen valley. Since 1932, Norway's annual Birkebeinerrennet runs a cross-country ski race that pays tribute to this historic account. on skis]] Skiing is also recorded in Norse mythology, where two deities—the god Ullr and the goddess Skaði—are attested as hunting on skis. One of the world's oldest references to skiing is by Egil Skallagrimsson's "950 AD saga describing King Haakon Adalsteinsfostre the Good's practice of sending his tax collectors out on skis". Sometime around 1800 A.D. Danish traveler Father Knut Leed made reference in Geographie to Norwegian kids "skiing just for the fun of it, being able to pick up a hat dropped on the slope while going at full speed."
The word "ski" itself is one of a handful of words Norway has exported to the international community. It comes from the Old Norse word "skíð" which means split piece of wood or firewood. Previously, English speakers considered skiing to be a type of snowshoeing. In regions where loose snow dominates, the indigenous population developed snowshoes that did not slide across the snow, unlike skis. Today's forms of skiing are the modern extensions of ancient Nordic skiing. Whether it be the Nordic forms of Cross-country skiing (a form of Telemark skiing) and Telemark skiing, Ski mountaineering or Alpine skiing, modern forms of skiing share common threads of origin from the Telemark region in Norway led by Norwegian ski innovator Sondre Norheim. From the Telemark district of Morgedal, Norway, which is also known as the "cradle of skiing", Norheim created the design templates from which all forms of modern skiing are derived. In 1850, woodcarvers from the Telemark region introduced lighter, thinner, cambered skis. These developments were accompanied by Norheim's creation of stiff bindings by fully securing the heel with a strong yet flexible strap made from birch roots. This new binding system enabled the skier to swing, jump and maneuver turns while skiing down hills. Morten Lund writes, in his piece outlining the development of Alpine skiing, that "Telemark skiing marked the transition to dynamic control, changing the angle of the ski bottom on the snow and changing the direction of the ski to the line of descent—the basis of technique even today", thus the necessity for Norheim's heel binding invention. And as a result, came the "flowering of the world's first "freestyle" contests—climbing, running, making turns for the fun of it and flying off natural bumps on unprepared snow." where the first documented international downhill carnival was also held.
Another milestone in those years is the ignition of winter tourism in St.Moritz, Graubünden in 1864; although doubted that skiing was among their activities, the presence of people for simply leisure reasons in a wintery area was essential for the development of skiing for other than utility reasons.
In 1868, with a couple fellow skiers, Norheim attended the "second annual Centralforeningen (Central Ski Association) open ski competition whose object was to demonstrate skill at descending a particular slope in the city." The "Christiania" came to be known simply as the "Christi" turn with the formalization of ski rules in 1901. Both turns, which originated in Telemark, mark the distinction between Telemark and Alpine skiing. Slalom, or "slalåm" in Norwegian dialect, is a Norwegian word originating from Morgedal, Norway. "Sla" refers to slope, hill, or smooth surface while "låm" means "track down the slope".
The biomechanical principles of alpine skiing were described in 1985 by Georg Kassat, professor at Münster University.
In skiing's traditional core regions in the snowy parts of Scandinavia, as well as in places such as Alaska, both recreational and competitive skiing is as likely to refer to the cross-country variants as to the internationally downhill variants.
Skiing techniques are difficult to master, and accordingly there are ski schools that teach everything from the basics of turning and stopping safely to more advanced carving, racing, mogul or "bump" skiing and newer freestyle techniques. There are two primary types of downhill skiing – "telemark" and "alpine."
For beginning skiers learning under a trained instructor, skiing speeds are low, the terrain is not steep and is often well-manicured, and the risks are relatively low. For extreme skiers, testing their expert abilities against ever more challenging terrain, the risks may be much higher.
Freestyle/Newschool: Freestyle skiing is the type of skiing with which tricks are usually associated. The skis used are generally of a twin tip design, made to land switch tricks (backwards) as easily as forwards. Tricks are generally spins and flips, that can be conjoined with a grabbing of the ski to improve the image of the trick. Freestyle skiing generally takes place in terrain parks at ski resorts, with a wide variety of jumps, rails, jibs and other features to session. Mogul skiing is also considered as freestyle skiing.
Freeskiing/Freeride Related to freestyle skiing in nature is freeriding, which involves taking the tricks done in the park to the rest of the mountain and the backcountry. Thus, fatter skis may be used to float on top of the powder. Freeriding often involves steeps, cliffs, powder, glades, and other epic runs. In part due to the growing popularity of freestyle skiing in recent years and the obvious limitations in that aspect of the sport, freeride skiing has also been growing in popularity in recent years as more and more skiers have access to good backcountry gear and skis.
Nordic Jumping: Also called ski-flying and ski jumping. A competition in which skiers slide down a ramp called a jump and attempt to go the furthest before landing on the ground. This is done with Nordic style skis, meaning that the heels of boot and binding are detached from the ski. The skis are much longer and wider than other types of skis and jumping is typically done without ski-poles. Telemark skiing: See also ski touring.
Paraskiing is accomplished either by jumping from a plane or starting from a high altitude on the ground (i.e. – from a mountaintop). Once the parachute is deployed, it is used heavily for steering. Paraskiing has been a competition sport for years, and can be scored for such things as speed and slalom accuracy. This is very different from kite-skiing, as gravity is the sole means of propulsion, rather than wind, thermals, or motors.
Backcountry skiing: Also see ski touring. Randonnée: See also ski touring, backcountry skiing.
Skijoring, also called Euro-style mushing, is skiing while being pulled by an animal(s), typically dogs or horses, or by snowmachine.
Dry Slope Skiing: This is skiing on artificial or dry snow, or dirt. Dry slope skiing is a year-round sport in countries like the UK where the snow cover is insufficient for traditional skiing. There is a thriving race programme on British slopes.
Adaptive Skiing is skiing done by individuals with physical disabilities. Adaptations to standard ski equipment or accompaniment by a non-disabled guide has enabled individuals with amputations, spinal injuries, TBI, deafness and visual impairments to ski, and in some cases, even race. The venue, speed and technical difficulty associated with the sport can lead to collisions, accidents, hypothermia and other injury or illness, occasionally including death. Regional Ski Patrol organizations, such as the National Ski Patrol in the U.S., exist as a voluntary organization to provide guidance, help, medical assistance and emergency rescue to those in need of it.
Recreational skiing programs for people with disabilities exist at mountains across the globe.
Currently the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and the International Ski Federation (FIS) sanction a number of regional, national, and international disabled skiing events, most notably a World Cup circuit, a Disabled Alpine Skiing World Championships, and the Paralympic Winter Games. One of the strongest disabled programs is the U.S. Disabled Ski Team, organized by the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association and the U.S. Ski Team.
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